The overall aim of the present dissertation project was to investigate how
responses to emotional information are modulated by the presentation medium.
While many studies have used different types of stimulus materials to study
emotion processing, so far only few studies have focused on media-specific
affective processes. Models of media reception have, however, recently
integrated psychological theories and theories from literary and film studies.
They thereby provide useful frameworks for understanding affective and
aesthetic responses to media stimuli. Based on these models, this dissertation
project focuses on three basic questions: Are emotional responses domain-
specific and are pictorial stimuli emotionally more powerful than verbal
material? What are the psychological processes and neural mechanisms
underlying the dynamic unfolding of emotional responses in movies? What are
modulating factors of processing emotional information in different media
types? To capture differences between verbal and pictorial materials, a
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was designed, which in
contrast to previous studies, controlled the perceptual complexity of the
material. The main results are 1) comparable valence effects for words and
pictures, when controlled for complexity; 2) interactions of valence and
modality in mainly perceptual and language brain regions; and 3) stronger
valence effects for complex photos compared to pictograms in frontal emotion
processing regions. A second fMRI study was designed to investigate the
dynamic unfolding of emotional responses in movies. Its main results are 1)
continuous sadness ratings show time-variable responses with sadness peaks
toward the predicted emotional scene climax; 2) dynamic movie context
modulates activations in anterior and posterior cortical midline regions and
their coupling with posterior sensory and subcortical reward areas. The third
literature-based study aimed at discussing modulating factors of emotional
media reception. It summarizes results of emotion processing in different
media types, and relates them to current theories of emotion. It finally
discusses them in the context of media reception models and argues for a
crucial role of immersive processes for emotional responses to different media
types. The results of this dissertation confirm that different media stimuli,
symbolic verbal as well as more realistic, multimodal stimuli can have
powerful emotion effects. The dissertation describes media-specific emotional
responses that support experience-based neural representations of emotions. It
further emphasizes the relevance of interactions of cortical midline,
posterior sensory and subcortical reward networks in the dynamic processing of
emotional information in audiovisual stimuli. Finally, it discusses the
crucial role of immersive processes and its underlying mechanisms in emotional
media reception.